The biggest difference between regular season and playoff basketball is that in the playoffs, and especially the ECF, you are playing against really good defensive teams.

All those plays that were golden against the Knicks and the Bucks suddenly don't work so well. You have to be prepared to grind it out if necessary. You have to force turnvovers and bad shots with your defense so that you can pick up some easy buckets once in a while. Otherwise, you will be frustrated and start blaming the refs.

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plus you go against the same team night after night and the better team/coaches have time to adjust to how you play....

Flips playbook great when you play against it once every couple months.... give a coach days to prepare and twink.... not so good, and the farther into the playoffs you go the more the other team will be able to tweek how it plays... aka Flip mr CF coach... but no farther.

The biggest difference between regular season and playoff basketball is that in the playoffs, and especially the ECF, you are playing against really good defensive teams.

All those plays that were golden against the Knicks and the Bucks suddenly don't work so well. You have to be prepared to grind it out if necessary. You have to force turnvovers and bad shots with your defense so that you can pick up some easy buckets once in a while. Otherwise, you will be frustrated and start blaming the refs.

I believe losing in game 6 was premeditated. Sheed just didn't seem right even before the game. I believe the plan was malicious by nature and was carried out. Being up by 10 points in the 4th quarter and then losing game six was painful to watch. Losing game 3 (after winning game 2 in Boston) the way we did told me volumes about the PLAYERS. Feeling that the players threw Flip under the bus and then parked it on him makes me want to see trades made.

I think we already know Joe as a GM. He'll fulfill his obligations in the same way he did as a player. With class, but without rocking the boat.

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I don't see how that's possible. In order for that to work ALL the players or key ones anyway would have to have come up with this plan. Sheed can't lose (or win) a game by himself. And he was giving effort on the defensive end. For once he was actually fighting Perk for rebounds. Chauncey/Rip also both showed up .

In the end, Sheed looked distraught on the bench after we lost. After watching that game, something was wrong, and it did look like internal drama but i don't question them trying to win the game. They just lost whether it was b/c BOS was so great or b/c our chemistry which didn't seem to be there made us so great.

Game 3 just seemed like a "Hey, we beat BOS at home, now they are going to roll over and die" type of thing. I don't feel like they threw Flip under a bus. In fact, didn't Tay go out of his way to take some blame off of Flip ?

Also from what i understand, Joe made it clear to all the players that if they lost this year, he would likely be breaking up the core. If they love playing together so much, why would they jeopardize that ?

LB coached a playoff style game and forced the team to play it, even against inferior regular season opponents. This tactic didn't produce the blowout wins that Flip's regular season strategy did. However, when the playoffs rolled around, the team was disciplined and could just keep playing the same game. Flip's regular season plan was flawed in a playoff environment... and even so, he abandoned it anyway for an equally flawed playoff gameplan.

Too much reliance on jump shooting and not enough emphasis on defense.

All Doc Rivers talked about was defense and it worked.

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Pretty much. There is a HUGE difference between coaching regular season wins and PO ones. The Suns and Cavs will attest to it.

plus you go against the same team night after night and the better team/coaches have time to adjust to how you play..

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Yup. They know your plays. You know theirs. The team that imposes their will as well as the superior coach will likely win, and 99.9% of the time it will be the defensive team.

I have not gone to the point to think that all the players mutually agreed to purposely lose to get Flip out as coach. There is no way. As much as some players may disagree with Flip they would not waste a chance at championship, a whole season's work, and a year of their careers.

You know we are getting on Roscoe's nerves by keeping this Laker-Celtics thread open with comments about the Pistons shortcomings...

Shortcomings=short of coming to the finals party again and no parade

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I don't know how that happened but I don't know how any Pistons could not not be thinking about it during those games.

Celts avg over 100 PPG in the Finals. They did not have to hold teams under 80 to win. They also followed their coaches instructions to the letter. Whatever plays Rivers drew up their guys went out and executed it as it was designed. There was no changing plays to ones they thought were better. There was no blaming things on the coach or saying they were tired.

It helps if you have a hungry team. These comparisons to 04 are so old and tired and its a completly different scnerio.

We will see how the Celts hold up after playing all those games. One thing about the Pistons is they sure have played a lot of games in the past 6 years.

I don't know how that happened but I don't know how any Pistons could not not be thinking about it during those games.

Celts avg over 100 PPG in the Finals. They did not have to hold teams under 80 to win. They also followed their coaches instructions to the letter. Whatever plays Rivers drew up their guys went out and executed it as it was designed. There was no changing plays to ones they thought were better. There was no blaming things on the coach or saying they were tired.

It helps if you have a hungry team. These comparisons to 04 are so old and tired and its a completely different scenario.

We will see how the Celts hold up after playing all those games. One thing about the Pistons is they sure have played a lot of games in the past 6 years.

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IMHO the 2004 championship team was part of our storied and gloried past and we, Joe, Mr D., and those arrogant leftover players have to forget about it, just like DWade's one and done'ers have to forget about the 06 championship. We have to move on and bring something new to the court. A new coach is a start, but a couple of more moves will prove to me that Joe and Mr. D are trying to build a new winner as opposed to collecting fans money on the old product.

I heard Doc say in his pregame and halftime huddles during the Pistons and Laker series "We are better than them..go out there and prove it"! Nothing that Flip or Phil said got their respective teams more than 2 victories vs the Celtics...So was Doc a good coach or a good motivator?

I didn't watch the Finals, but I didn't see any evidence of great coaching in the games against the Pistons. Boston has three legitimate All-Stars and 1-2 of them were usually able to step it up every night and lead the team w/ their energy and drive. The players were hungry, something the Pistons didn't have.

It is often said that the 5th game of series are the best ones because after 4 games the teams have figured out what does and doesn't work and are ready to play their best ball. For 3 years DET's talent and Flip’s philosophy has gotten them even at 2 - 2 in the ECF. They've never won another game. That is coaching and the players picked up on this and it served as anti-motivation for them. Flip either couldn't or wouldn't change things up. If you can help the players win then they will listen to you.

It is often said that the 5th game of series are the best ones because after 4 games the teams have figured out what does and doesn't work and are ready to play their best ball. For 3 years DET's talent and Flip’s philosophy has gotten them even at 2 - 2 in the ECF. They've never won another game. That is coaching and the players picked up on this and it served as anti-motivation for them. Flip either couldn't or wouldn't change things up. If you can help the players win then they will listen to you.

Interesting theory but each series was different. Lost 4 straight to the Cavs after being up 2-0.

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The after-sweep should have been the nail in Flip's coffin, but noooooo we had to endure another season of hope that ended the same way it had the prior two seasons...why didn't Joe read this forum last year??

Bos. is pretty beat up. But with their stupid cockiness they might want to go dramatic and win it in 7. Another game for them to prance around. If they go straight to the whole with 30 or more FT's, that means they're serious about winning. Less than 25 FTs and they're just coasting.
Then again Lakers could just lay down and give up free chili all nite.